{"id":2094869,"date":"2026-08-14T14:41:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T11:41:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2094869"},"modified":"2026-08-14T14:41:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T11:41:33","slug":"michael-e-smith-opens-up-after-a-decade-of-dodging-interviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2094869","title":{"rendered":"Michael E. Smith Opens Up After a Decade of Dodging Interviews"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/michael-e-msith-edited-17.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n

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\n\tWhen I learned of an opportunity to interview Michael E. Smith\u2014an artist I\u2019ve long admired\u2014my brain boomeranged: I was excited to hear from an elusive artist who seldom speaks, but also stumped as to what exactly I might ask the man. I intuited that direct questions\u2014of the what does this mean, why did you make that <\/em>variety\u2014wouldn\u2019t do for an artist whose work is so withholding. His sculptures have this magical yet vernacular quality you\u2019d feel silly overexplaining.<\/p>\n

\n\tSmith\u2019s work\u2014characterized by playful arrangements of found objects\u2014elides language \u2026 or so I thought. So often, what makes an artwork great is also what makes my job as a writer hard.<\/p>\n

\n\tYet after making the trek to Mass MoCA in the Berkshires, where Smith has a solo show on view through February 21,I realized that his work elides language in part because it has so much in common with it. Smith takes ordinary objects\u2014often readymades\u2014and renders them unfamiliar, both dumber and more mysterious at the same time, in much the way that poets turn the ordinary medium of English on its head. Like a poet, he relies on rhythms and rhymes, and on scrambling semiotics.<\/p>\n

\n\tHere\u2019s an example: Two long, rolled tubes of yellow paper sit on the floor, greeting viewers to his Mass MoCA show. Immediately, I read them as legs; just as quickly, I wrote off my impulse toward anthropomorphism. Their sole bend, near the end but against the wall, is anything but anatomical. Then, through the door, I glimpsed a set of sticks lying on the ground. This set, wooden with shoes and knees, was indisputably limblike. Only on my way out did I notice the third pair: Two wires hanging from the ceiling are draped over the top of the door, from which they appear to float above, ghostlike. It is through repetition that these pairs come to feel leggier and leggier.<\/p>\n

\n\tSmith makes you ask: Where does the material end and the metaphor begin? Where do the profound and pedestrian converge, if they do at all?<\/p>\n

\n\tOther moves feel like puns: Gallery lighting, mounted to the ceiling, is in this show unplugged, cords dangling and cans unscrewed. Here what we call \u201clight\u201d feels jarringly heavy as it sags. I\u2019m told that visitors keep walking right into the dangling plugs, so used we are to tuning out the fixtures from our field of view.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs with any artist whose work has been subject to the machinations of language, there are the narrative tropes that will haunt him for life\u2014the Detroit-born-artist-working-with-post-industrial-refuse story. He has, however, been living in New England for decades,and such a story does little to convey the experience of encountering his work. Fair enough: It\u2019s hard to write about absence, and he withholds so much. Few works in the show are titled, boxes filled with objects remain closed (one is even tightly wrapped in cellophane), and canvases are stacked one atop the other like pizza boxes\u2014content and images concealed.<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter much mulling (and an illicit-feeling peek inside the boxes and at the paintings), I thought of a few questions for Smith. The artist spoke from his studio in Providence, Rhode Island, where he was between opening shows at Waldo in Maine and at Maxwell Graham in New York.<\/p>\n

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View of Michael E. Smith\u2019s 2026 exhibition at Mass MoCA.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

You haven\u2019t publicly spoken about your work much. Why\u2019s that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tFor 10 years I avoided doing interviews, but I\u2019m actually weirdly super talkative if you get me going.<\/p>\n

\n\tI mixed things up for this show, largely becuase I wanted the curator, Emma Poveda, who is a grad student fellow, to have a good experience. I never really collaborate with curators: The process is notoriously dry and empty until install starts, so I just decided it could be interesting if I flipped that inside out and gave Emma complete access. She met my partner and my kids. She spent time here in Providence. She has all our phone numbers. I never let anyone work in my studio for more than two years.<\/p>\n

\n\tEarlier in my life, I was really disappointed in almost everyone, though there was still 20 percent of the world I absolutely adored and would die for. But it\u2019s flipped now. Weirdly, I feel more connected and in love with humans than I ever have.<\/p>\n

I noticed some lists on the stacked canvases at Mass MoCA. What role does list-making play in your work?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI think the origin of the lists is just neurosis. I spend a lot of time on paper, remaking lists of things\u2014even thinking about how to write my materials list in a very truncated way. Rather than saying \u201cstork beak,\u201d it will just say \u201cbird,\u201d and then you have to put together the rest of the bird that\u2019s missing in your head.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe lists are also born from practicalities. I seem to grow into every crevice of what it means to find ways to source meaning \u2026 including in the demands that come with making on a professional level, whatever that means. The only shot I have is complete abandon each time. I know that sounds extreme, but at least, if that\u2019s the goal, then how do I negotiate things like shipping and flights and still give myself over all the way? So I just fold everything into the mix. If it\u2019s a part of that day, then it becomes part of the song.<\/p>\n

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View of Michael E. Smith\u2019s 2026 work untitled<\/em>, comprising a speaker and a curtain, at Mass MoCA.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

How would you describe your relationship to poetry?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tFor me, poetry is related to songwriting, and I\u2019ve read more poetry than anything else. To me, the best word for talking about the indescribable aspects of what makes something work is often \u201cpoetic.\u201d I\u2019ve never studied writing or the theory of it, so maybe this is a common way to think about it, but for me there\u2019s no other art form that separates itself from its use or function quite like poetry. A poem seems to be beyond writing somehow.<\/p>\n

\n\tI love the idea of a poet being the most lightweight of all\u2014even lighter than the troubadour. All they need to work is a piece of burnt wood, if that; they can also just rely on memory.<\/p>\n

This show had these rhyming and rhythm moments that really made me think of the structure of the show as poem-like.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tTotally. I live in music, especially pop music. Sometimes, I build shows around certain artists or a suite of songs that somehow holds what I\u2019m feeling or what\u2019s happening. Music gives me a way in.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe last work in the Mass MoCA show, titled More Bounce<\/em> (2026), is a reference to a Zapp song, \u201cMore Bounce to the Ounce.\u201d I think that song is asking us all to be more rubber and keep bouncing to survive. Sound is in the work a lot, and rhythm for sure. Rhythm is the material I\u2019m working with.<\/p>\n

How do you go about choosing what objects to work with? When you see something, do you know right away what it will be?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThings choose me. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s a blessing or a curse, but the schedule I keep feels like the blue-collar response to having two teenagers and trying to keep my promise to my partner: We\u2019ve worked so hard to try not to give any energy to anything we don\u2019t believe in. It seemed like a pipe dream in the beginning, but we did it for a while. A lot of times, the materials were because we didn\u2019t have a ton of money.<\/p>\n

\n\tI remember when I was in the Venice Biennale [in 2019], and they gave me the Scarpa Garden. I thought: Lord have mercy. I did a site visit. I try to do that as little as possible, but in this case, I had to. It was nothing, nothing, no ideas. The show was getting close, and every morning I\u2019d wake up with panic. Like, how do I live up to this incredible opportunity, in maybe the best spot you could possibly have? I\u2019m not used to that. Usually, people put me in the corner, or I\u2019m weird shit in the stairwell.<\/p>\n

\n\tI didn\u2019t have funds. In the beginning, I refused advances, because I don\u2019t want to owe people money. But that Christmas, my son got an anvil from my father-in-law, who\u2019s a blacksmith and a glassblower. Boom: The whole idea was there. We ordered anvils from throughout Europe, from different ages. They could be outside. People could sit on them. They\u2019re heavy as shit.<\/p>\n

\n\tA lot of times it\u2019s like that. That one\u2019s very clean. But so much of what I do feels like being a spiritual detective or something, yet I try to be as pragmatic as possible. Free things, or Craigslist free \u2026 if you can find something that motivates you outside of the unbearable lightness of trying to do something worth your time, then just jump. We bleed for it and hopefully people dig it.<\/p>\n

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View of Michael E. Smith\u2019s 2026 work untitled<\/em> at Mass MoCA.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

That\u2019s also where the work feels like poetry to me. Poets take language\u2014this very pedestrian, perfunctory material\u2014and strip it down while also turning it into something greater than the sum of its parts. The iPhone boxes do that for me; they just felt so unfamiliar and special in a way that I hadn\u2019t thought about before.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s what I\u2019m looking for, some kind of nexus where all the different forms of our understanding and consciousness are firing, like many memories and many layers of information all at once. It\u2019s like you can see something in a different way for a minute if you\u2019re in it, and that\u2019s generally durational and maybe even immersive. You have to give over.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s part of the reason I build shows the way I do. I was always annoyed with the way attendance works at an exhibition. Anywhere else \u2026 you would never listen to six songs simultaneously. It\u2019s just such a stale way to experience something so powerful. We made a fake band when I was in undergrad for that reason, so that people would come and act as though they were at a show\u2014much more relaxed.<\/p>\n

Totally. Is that how you landed on the car wash next to Mass MoCA as a kind of motif, and as a site for an artwork and performance?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI was really into the car wash right away. It made me think of Ed Ruscha, and of my grandfather, who worked at Hydramatic, a factory in Detroit. Half of my family worked in the factories, and my grandfather loved washing cars. He worked most of his life to get a Cadillac, and then he never drove it. He would just pull it out, wash it, put it back. <\/p>\n

\n\tCars were of almost religious importance in our family. That wasn\u2019t important for the show, but I know from experience that if I connect to a material on a personal level, beneath that will be something universal. It\u2019s just a good fuel for me, and the space\u2019s little weird stalls felt kind of like little galleries or something. I can be impulsive with initial decisions, and then it\u2019s like, \u201cOh fuck! Now, how do I make this work?\u201d I got a lot of heart, but if I had to figure it out first and then do it, I\u2019d never do anything.<\/p>\n

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View of Michael E. Smith\u2019s 2026 work arc wash<\/em> at Mass MoCA.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

You also collaborate with your kids a lot.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThey\u2019ve always been a part of all of it; it just felt very natural. I did this series of events at Giorno Poetry Systems, and my daughter performed, which was super cool. My son drives through sketchbooks at a ridiculous pace, to the point where I feel like we\u2019re killing some trees. I brought in a huge stack of them, and everybody got to flip through them, which they were into. I explained to my son, they\u2019re still yours, but if I were to frame them as an artwork, it\u2019s a window into your head. To look at a 15-year-old\u2019s sketchbook is a powerful experience for a person who\u2019s in their 30s or 40s. I asked: Are you okay with this? Is there anything you would want to get rid of? He said nah, it\u2019s cool; it\u2019s all good.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd then sometimes I put them to work just like good old-fashioned child labor! [Laughs<\/em>] They like it though; we hang out. They have different skills. My son is like drunken style, so if I\u2019m stuck on something, he\u2019ll just plow through. My daughter is just incredible with color mixing, patterns, repetition \u2026 she\u2019s got more of a painter\u2019s mind and sensitivity to stuff. I also work with a partner, Scott. I don\u2019t call anyone assistants. I usually work with young artists and I pay them whatever I can afford to, and we learn from each other. That\u2019s worked pretty well, surprisingly. <\/p>\n

\n\tI have this strong, strong pull to at least just walk gracefully, whatever the fuck that means\u2014to be as harmless as possible while all of this happens.<\/p>\n

It sounds like the lifestyle and the art are supporting each other.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tYeah. If anything takes the hit, it\u2019s the life part. But we\u2019re fighting for the way we want to live. It can seem almost pointless, though it feels like a perfect time for work like mine, because any attempt at reasoning or objective thought seems laughable in the face of all that spirals around us.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd I mean, what\u2019s the alternative? It\u2019s not like there are a lot of attractive things that I\u2019m missing out on.<\/p>\n

A friend once described being an artist as \u201cthe best job I\u2019ve ever had\u201d\u2014meaning, the least soul sucking way to spend one\u2018<\/em>s time and energy\u2014which I think about a lot.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tOne of my favorite songs is Son House\u2019s Preachin\u2019 the Blues\u00a0<\/em> (1930). My favorite line is, \u201cI\u2019m gonna join the Baptist Church \u2026 so I won\u2019t have to work.\u201d I know that to a lot of people, that sounds lazy or whatever. But no, having a job is an oppressive experience for 99.9% of the planet.<\/p>\n

\n\tI don\u2019t mind working. I don\u2019t want to have a job.<\/p>\n

David Graeber\u2019s book Bullshit Jobs<\/em> makes the argument that capitalism hurts rich people and poor people alike because it forces us to spend our time on pointless and soulless things, pursuing anything but truth and beauty and kindness.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tAnd it sets up enemies immediately, as if everyone is competing to collect acorns. It took me so long to get rid of that basal impulse. I\u2018<\/em>ll never forget when I did this New York studio program thing, and this artist named Mike Dopp was listening to me and my homie talk about art. We were talking about it like it was sports. Being from Detroit, we felt like underdogs, like we shouldn\u2019<\/em>t have even been there. He had the courage to pop around and school us on how art isn\u2019t competitive, and I feel so lucky to have glimpsed maybe a bit of peace in terms of acceptance.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s why I keep coming back to that word \u201charmless.\u201d I think it is about the best I can come up with these days. Art has introduced me to so much complexity. The amount of arrogance it would take at this point for me to profess understanding or any judgment whatsoever \u2026 At best, I try not to do any harm, and if I get there, that\u2019s pretty cool.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/michael-e-msith-edited-17.jpg?w=1024″] When I learned of an opportunity to interview Michael E. Smith\u2014an artist I\u2019ve long admired\u2014my brain boomeranged: I was excited to hear from an elusive artist who seldom speaks, but also stumped as to what exactly I might ask the man. I intuited that direct questions\u2014of the what does this mean, why […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-2094869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2094869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2094869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2094869\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2094869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2094869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2094869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}